Heart-Shaped Box

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, a thing so terrible-strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet. For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost. It's the real thing.

I read Horns first, and was quite impressed. This novel came before Horns, but I felt it was not as good. I agree with another reviewer here, that I had a hard time caring much about the self-styled, goth/heavy metal star. He collects and discards women companions and doesn't even call them by their name but by the state they came from - like a product, and surrounds himself with things like snuff films and letters of women burned alive as witches. Unlike horns, it is just hard to care about these characters. The humanity is slowly developed to a small extent as the story goes on, but it is kind of too little too late. The main character is just not particularly likeable or appealing or even interesting, so it is hard to really get too excited about his woes.

Also, the story plods along a bit. After a while, it is just the main characters being tortured by a ghost and doesn't really seem to go anywhere for long stretches.

It isn't bad, and certainly has its moments, and many might find it scary. But I felt the characters are just too dark for too long to really make the reader care much about them, and the story just isn't as strong as Joe HIll's other work.

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